Roquefort cheese

Roquefort cheese is one of the ingredients featured in today’s recipe following on from the post of yesterday for a great offer from Pong Cheese. Roquefort is fantastic and is one of my absolute favorite cheeses (I do love my cheese!). It’s a semi-soft, crumbly, white cheese with blue-green veins and a sweet, tangy flavour from the South of France which has a little history all of its own. I’ve done some research and legend has it that back in the day a young man was eating his lunch of bread and ewes’ milk, saw a rather attractive lady walk past him and decided he wanted to meet her. So he left his cheese in the cave where he was sitting. When he returned a few months later he found the cheese had become moldy but in a good way and there the creation of Roquefort was born as it was matured in the caves of Mont Combalou in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Only cheese which has been ripened in these caves is allowed to use the name Roquefort. Quite interesting I think!

So onto the recipe for crusted lamb cutlets with crushed Roquefort potatoes…

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

For the crusted lamb cutlets

100g/3½oz fresh white breadcrumbs

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 lamb cutlets

1 free-range egg, beaten

1 tbsp olive oil

25g/1oz butter

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves

½ lemon, juice only

For the crushed Roquefort potatoes

250g/9oz new potatoes, cooked, still warm

55g/2oz Roquefort cheese, crumbled

small handful fresh mint leaves, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

50ml/2fl oz double cream

Method:

For the crusted lamb cutlets, place the breadcrumbs, salt and freshly ground black pepper into a mini blender and process until well combined. Dip the lamb cutlets into the beaten egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the cutlets and fry on both sides until golden-brown and cooked through. Remove the lamb cutlets from the pan and set aside to rest in a warm place.

Add the butter, mint and lemon juice to the pan and simmer together.

For the crushed Roquefort potatoes, place the hot cooked potatoes into a saucepan, add the Roquefort, mint, salt, freshly ground black pepper and cream and crush roughly with the back of a fork.

To serve, divide the crushed potatoes between two serving plates and top with the lamb cutlets. Pour over the mint and butter sauce from the pan and serve.